Russia

If there ever was a true lost kingdom of the king of fish the Kola Peninsula in Russia is it. The Kola is the nose of land that sticks out into the Barents and White Seas if you go over the top of Norway and down the other side.

Though barely 1000 sq miles of remote taiga and tundra, this region has eight major Atlantic salmon rivers and countless smaller rivers and tributaries: going clockwise around the region starting at 12.00 is the Kola itself, followed by Rhynda, and Kharlovka, then at 1.00 is Varzina, at 2.00 Yokanga, 3.00 Ponoi, at 6.00 Varzuga and finally at 7 o’clock Umba.

Because the Kola is so far north, salmon rivers barely ten miles apart can have distinctly different sizes of fish and timings of their runs, so be very careful about when and where and be cautious about bargains. I remember once when our group had notched up over 300 fish in a few days another camp only 50 or so miles away had caught just 3 grayling!

Lower Varzuga & Kitsa on the Kola Peninsula, Russia

The Varzuga River is situated on the southern part of the Kola Peninsula bordering the White Sea, and is about an hour and a half helicopter flying time from Murmansk. Once away from Murmansk you enter one of the most wonderfully unspoilt wilderness regions in the World. This is wooded tundra with dense birch and spruce forests surrounding large areas of peat bog. The Varzuga is a big River, at least the size of the Tay but shallow with mile upon mile of perfect fly water. The Kitsa, one of its main tributaries, is much smaller being about the size of our Dee and joins Varzuga almost at its mouth.

Varzuga and Kitsa are all about grilse, (one sea winter Atlantic salmon) averaging about 6lbs and lots of them. My own record includes 50 salmon in a day (and I lost 17 more!) and 174 in a week and a party total of 830 for that week! With a current five-year average of some 300 or 30 fish per rod, you can expect to learn more about Atlantic salmon fishing in a single week on Varzuga and Kitsa than you will in a lifetime of visiting a Scottish river.

Yokanga River, Kola Peninsula, Russia

Yokanga is one of the greatest big fish salmon rivers in the world and yes, I know you would expect me to say that since I acquired the rights on the River for the owners, Kolaco and am a syndicate shareholder. In the past 2 years I have personally landed two fish of well over 30lbs, one fish measured 431/2” long and was 22” around the girth and estimated to have been 35lbs. I also caught a witnessed but unverified fish the year before which was considerably larger than that.

In an average week in late June you might expect 200 or so fish for the 16 rods fishing. And whilst that might not seem a lot, bear in mind 10-20 of them will be over 20lbs and there will be one or two 30’s and even the occasional 40 pounder as well. Not many rivers can make that kind of boast.